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Related topics:
Cole Library - Hartford
ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan)
Library Catalog
More Library Policies
PD&E FAQ
Using Area Libraries
Web Proxy Service
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Many services offered by the Research Libraries are also available
to members of Rensselaer's Troy campus community when they are "off-site."
Although geographical distance and the state-of-information
technology affect how some services can be provided, the services attempt to be akin to those
available to "on-site" users.
For registrants of Rensselaer's Professional and Distance Learning programs
the Richard G. Folsom Library is the designated "home" library. For students,
faculty and staff affiliated with Rensselaer at Hartford, the Cole
Library serves as the "home" institution. "Home" libraries provide circulation,
interlibrary loan, and reference services to their users. Although all Rensselaer
users have circulation privileges at all Rensselaer libraries, service policies
at Folsom and Hartford vary slightly.
A summary of available personal "remote" services appears below followed by information about how to
access the Research Libraries' Databases and other Electronic Publications.
| Book Loans |
The Research Libraries will ship circulating materials from their collections
to "off-campus" users via US Priority Mail, United Parcel or Federal
Express delivery. Borrowers pay all shipping costs. Books requested
via ConnectNY cannot be forwarded.
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| Interlibrary Loan |
Journal articles will be mailed or faxed for a small charge if electronic
copies cannot be obtained. Books obtained from other libraries cannot be forwarded.
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| Photocopying |
For a fee in addition to other related costs, the Libraries will mail
or fax copies of materials from its collections. Use the ILLiad interlibrary
loan system to request these materials. |
| Reference |
General informational questions about the Rensselaer
Libraries may be sent to Library Support
at any time. You can also post questions to our Ask
a Librarian service. Remember to indicate your Rensselaer affiliation.
Online documentation about various library
topics is also available in RensSearch,
the Libraries' home page. |
| Research Databases |
Available to Professional & Distance Learning students and Troy campus faculty
and students only. |
Off-Campus Access to Databases and other Electronic Publications
Because licensing agreements generally restrict use of these resources either
to "currently enrolled students" or "current employees," off-campus Rensselaer
users must have active computing accounts in the Rensselaer Computing System
(RCS) and be authenticated by RCS. At the present time
For authentication, "off-campus" Rensselaer users must either configure a
browser to use the Libraries' Web Proxy Service
or establish a direct PPP connection via Rensselaer's dial up (xyplex)
service. (For information about connecting directly to RCS, select CONNECT.)
Students in Rensselaer's Professional and Distance Education program
(PDE) or affiliated with another Rensselaer campus, (e.g. Hartford or
Fairfax) who may be unfamiliar with RCS, can review general information
about computing services at the Academic
Computing home page or contact the Voorhees Computing Center's Help
Desk directly (tel. 518-276-7777 or e-mail: consult@rpi.edu)
for assistance.
Graduate students who have completed their course work and are working on
their theses must file for "thesis credit" each semester with the Registrar
to retain their "currently enrolled" status in order to keep RCS accounts active
and to qualify for personal library services.
Using Other Libraries
Access policies vary greatly among libraries. Very few academic libraries
offer researchers from other institutions full-fledged borrowing and use
privileges. However, libraries that will let you in their front doors,
will most likely also allow you on-site use of their research databases.
In such cases, you will probably have to either use whatever e-mail facility
is available to send data to your personal e-mail address, or locally
download data to a floppy disk. Public libraries, especially those located
in cities, should be able to provide you with personal interlibrary loan
service comparable to Rensselaer's. Their staffs may be unfamiliar with
technical publications; but if you can provide accurate citations, they
should be able to obtain documents from the same sources just as fast
as the Rensselaer Libraries.
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